Page 2 - NYT Chicago Flourishing

“During the pandemic, artists couldn’t help but create and we’re seeing new, exciting shows,” said
Katie Tuten, a co-owner of the eclectic performance space Hideout, fresh from a weekend of back-to-
back sellout shows. “Plus, who wants to come out of the pandemic and not have a place to dance?”

In Lincoln Park, Steppenwolf has recently opened its new in-the-round Ensemble Theater with
“Seagull,” by Anton Chekov.Credit...Michelle Litvin for The New York Times

Back on stage

Watching a performance, let alone dancing, was of course forbidden indoors for at least a year at
independent music clubs that form the backbone of the Chicago music scene. Thanks to $16 billion in
federal Covid relief distributed to venues nationwide, no local clubs closed permanently, according to
the Chicago Independent Venue League, an industry group of nearly 50 performance spaces.

Members of the league represent the spectrum of Chicago-made music, from the Promontory in Hyde
Park, with everything from jazz concerts to soca dance parties; to Martyrs’ on the North Side,
welcoming emerging garage bands, arty collectives like the marching band Mucca Pazza and free
Sunday afternoon country shows.

“Each are anchors to neighborhoods with restaurants and bars and experiences,” said Chris Bauman,
a C.I.V.L. board member and the owner of two North Side venues, Avondale Music Hall and the Patio
Theater, who credits locally owned clubs as economic engines and talent incubators. “In Chicago, we
do it for the love of art and music and creating and retaining this culture,” he added.

Continued…